SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1265

“Glorified”

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. – Colossians 3:4

When we think of being a Christian, we think of being saved. Yet our Christian walk is much more than that. Our salvation is a call to grow in our relationship with Jesus through the process of sanctification leading to glorification.

Our Christian walk begins with a call of God to repent and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10:9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

Having been saved by grace, we are justified, which means to be declared righteous through faith in Jesus.

And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus – Romans 3:24

Having been saved and justified by grace you are now part of the Body of Christ – His church – His Bride and Jesus is in the process of preparing His Bride for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. – 1 Corinthians 12:27

These events bring us to the process of sanctification. This is the process by which the Holy Spirit guides us and equips us to separate ourselves from worldliness and sin and to walk the narrow path of righteousness. It is the process of learning to say ‘no’ to sin and ‘yes’ to the righteous call of God to follow Jesus.

… Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. – Ephesians 5:25-27

Our sanctification and growth in faith is through the Water of the Word of God. The Word of God must be an integral part of our day to day lives if we are to grow in Christ.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Paul writes in Romans that God has also glorified us.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. – Romans 8:29-30

God sees our glorification as a finished work. We may not feel like we are glorified right now – and we are not – but the promise is that when He calls us home, we will be conformed to the image of His Son.

May you embrace the process of sanctification, seeking to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12